A bizarre situation ever happened before.

[minahhhh 0]

"If you are a U.S. citizen married to a nonresident alien you may qualify to use the head of household tax rates. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household."

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/U.S.-Citizens-and-Resident-Aliens-Abroad---Head-of-Household

I have confirmed this with several tax filing agencies as well as IRS directly - it is not widley known, unfortunately (probably due to the amount of abuse it would get?). The link above is direct from IRS website. There are instances where a USC married to a nonresident alien can file head of house. If you fit the criteria, maybe print out the page, contact IRS to get verification on your tax situation specifically, and see if you can get anything directly from them printed out to provide as evidence towards your immigration case.

[minahhhh 0]

You might be able to file as head of household, if you are married to non-resident alien. See here:

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/U.S.-Citizens-and-Resident-Aliens-Abroad---Head-of-Household

(I do not remember whether it applies in any case, or only if you lived abroad - I guess should be in any case)

However, if your spouse did not have any income to report during the year, then filing married filing jointly is usually better for you then filing as head of household

As for the main topic of the tread - honestly, a laymen person, without too much tax and general law experience, with probably not perfect English, in a stressful situation of the interview, is offered to make a complicated yes/no decision on the spot in 1 minute about whether to withdraw the application.. Based on the suspicion(!) of the immigration officer that he either probably did tax fraud or probably was in fact separating from his wife. I find the whole story unsettling. To me it sounds as if he was simply intimidated into withdrawing.

Now, it might be that his situation is clean, or it might be that suspicions of the immigration officer are correct, but that is a different story.

Oops, just saw that you had posted it already! I am currently a nonresident alien, living in the US with my USC husband, not employed (obviously), with a qualifying dependent. If the op's case is similar to ours they should not have had any problem.

Unfortunately, this rule isn't widely known. Until we were informed of this, we had no idea we qualified for the benefit. Maybe the IO wasn't aware of this either.

[merc0230 28]

Why would one file HOA instead of Married filing joint? The standard deduction is higher

Standard Deduction Amounts for 2013

• Single: $6,100
• Head of Household: $8,950
• Married Filing Joint: $12,200
• Married Filing Separately: $6,100
• Qualifying Widow/Widower: $12,200
• Dependent: $1,000-$6,100

[minahhhh 0]

Why would one file HOA instead of Married filing joint? The standard deduction is higher

Standard Deduction Amounts for 2013

• Single: $6,100
• Head of Household: $8,950
• Married Filing Joint: $12,200
• Married Filing Separately: $6,100
• Qualifying Widow/Widower: $12,200
• Dependent: $1,000-$6,100

From what I've learned, it's not black and white. Everyone has different situations/factors that dont always situate them into the norm, so I'm not able to say why one would choose this way or that.

I encourage anyone to not only file their taxes with firms they trust and have good records (or to be well-informed if they are filing themselves), but also be in contact with IRS directly with any concerns or questions. This way there's no guesswork.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Why would one file HOA instead of Married filing joint? The standard deduction is higher

Standard Deduction Amounts for 2013

• Single: $6,100
• Head of Household: $8,950
• Married Filing Joint: $12,200
• Married Filing Separately: $6,100
• Qualifying Widow/Widower: $12,200
• Dependent: $1,000-$6,100

Because they are getting both the HOA deduction and married filing separately deductions. It is basically an attempt to defraud the government on taxes either on purpose or not.

[minahhhh 0]

I just read the original post again and realized the nonresident filing options don't apply in this case. My apologies.

If you qualified to file married-joint in previous years, unless you separated for 6 months in 2012, your wife is not eligible for HOA in 2012. Was she advised to file HOA?

[merc0230 28]

Because they are getting both the HOA deduction and married filing separately deductions. It is basically an attempt to defraud the government on taxes either on purpose or not.

Ah, that explains it. Thx.

[Golden Gate 530]

So if I have two minor children that live with me that are not my husband's, and he is a permanent resident, do I file married jointly and I am not head of the household even if I pay more than 50%?

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

So if I have two minor children that live with me that are not my husband's, and he is a permanent resident, do I file married jointly and I am not head of the household even if I pay more than 50%?

Married filing jointly if you shared a residence any time during the last 6 months of 2013.

See the following:

"Married Persons may be Considered Unmarried for Tax Filing Purposes

A married person may be considered as if he or she were unmarried for the purpose of qualifying for head of household status. To be considered unmarried, the person needs to be legally married and have lived in a separate residence from his or her spouse for at least the last six months of the year (July through December). Furthermore, the taxpayer would need to file a tax return separate from his or her spouse, and needs to meet the other two criteria for head of household relating to the Support Test and the Qualifying Person Test.

In other words, the married person would need to (1) reside someplace separate from the other spouse for at least the last six months of the year, and (2) pay for more than half the cost of maintaining their home, and (3) have one or more qualifying persons living with them at their separate home for more than half the year. The advantages of being able to file as head of household for married persons are discussed further in the article."

http://taxes.about.com/od/filingstatus/qt/headofhousehold.htm

[Golden Gate 530]

Ok, I understand now. So in our case, we file married jointly because he has lived with me the entire year. Thanks for your reply N-o-l-a